The head of the prison department in the US state of Tennessee resigns after a failed execution

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On Saturday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the resignation of the head of the state's corrections department, in light of the failed execution of prisoner Christa Pike, who survived two lethal injections.

Lee said in a statement received by the media, “The head of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Frank Strada, has submitted his resignation and will leave his position this month,” without making any clear reference to the failed execution that was carried out on Wednesday night against Christa Pike.

"I am grateful to Strada for putting the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult time," added Lee, who announced Thursday a suspension of executions in the state and an independent investigation into the botched execution.

The statement also quoted him as saying, “I still believe that the prison administration has fulfilled its obligations under the approved protocol.”

He added, "However, the resignation is in the interest of the people of the state of Tennessee until the independent investigation is completed," stressing that the investigation is "necessary."

The Prisons Administration confirmed late Wednesday night that it had fully adhered to the approved protocol since the resumption of execution of death sentences in the state in May 2025, after a three-year hiatus. The state governor had issued a decision to suspend the execution at the time due to a failure to verify the lethal solution used to execute one of the convicts.

According to documents submitted by her lawyers to a court in Tennessee on Friday, Christa Pike (50 years old) has been unconscious and connected to life support since the failed execution.

Her lawyers called on the governor to “immediately commute her sentence.”

"After spending more than 20 years in solitary confinement and being subjected to a failed execution attempt by injection, Christa is the person who has been subjected to the harshest punishment in the history of the death penalty in the United States," said Randy Spivey, one of the lawyers.

Bill Lee, who refused to commute her sentence on Monday, had previously confirmed that he would not back down from executing the death sentence against her.